Printing presses typically operate to place liquid ink upon a desired surface, such as paper, in a desired configuration. Generally ink so applied will not dry instantly. Therefore, a freshly inked surface should not be allowed to contact any other surface that might disturb the intended configuration until the ink has dried. At the same time, for purposes of efficiency, the operator will generally move the freshly inked paper away from the printing area as soon as possible in order to allow an uninked paper to be substituted in its place.
This, then, forces a compromise. Freshly inked paper must be moved with potentially wet ink disposed thereon without unduly disturbing the integrity of the printing effort itself.
In the type of printing press characterized by at least two parallel disposed drive chains that constantly move during the printing operation to facilitate various functions (hereinafter collectively referred to as "chain driven printing presses"), one or more rotatable wheels are generally located between the drive chains to support freshly inked paper while moving the paper from the printing area. This does not always operate in a satisfactory manner. For instance, these wheels are not necessarily easily movable in an axial direction, with the result that the wheels may themselves directly contact a freshly inked area. Furthermore, the wheels are typically so wide as to enhance the risk that a freshly inked area will be contacted. Finally, such wheels often do a poor job of supporting paper. In short, such wheels only poorly meet the intended compromise of supporting the paper during movement while not disturbing fresh ink.
In an attempt to resolve these problems as arise with chain driven printing presses, a paper support bar has been proposed. This bar comprises an elongated member that may be connected at either end to both drive chains through use of spring like clamp mechanisms which essentially serve to non-permanently attach the bar to the chains. A plurality of movable fingers are disposed on the bar to support the paper in a number of places.
This apparatus comprises an improvement over the wheel mechanism mentioned above, but many problems have been newly introduced by its use. For instance, this bar is easily dislodged from attachment to the chain. This risks not only one or more pieces of printed paper, but may risk damage to the printing press itself. In addition, the bar has a square or rectangular cross section, whereas the fingers have a round hole disposed therethrough for fitting about the bar. So configured, the fingers are relatively easily dislodged from desired settings, thereby risking movement of a finger to an ink disturbing position and/or to a position that provides little or not appropriate support for the paper itself. In addition, these fingers are so configured as to still provide far too much contact with the paper itself, thereby increasing the risk that a freshly inked area will be disturbed.